


The Sondel Conspiracy

by pigeonking



Category: Doctor Who
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-12 02:47:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10480428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pigeonking/pseuds/pigeonking
Summary: This story is a direct sequel to The Asteroid Army and ties up many threads from some of my other Doctor Who stories shared here too...





	

The two allosauruses ran side by side, almost neck and neck through the Jurassic forest. There was absolutely nothing unusual about seeing two large bipedal theropod carnosaurs running with each other during this period in Earth’s prehistory, but what was unusual was the sight of each dinosaur bearing a humanoid passenger perched precariously upon its shoulders. One of the humanoids was a tall man with spiky grey hair, an old lined face with angry looking eyebrows and wearing a long flowing black coat with a silky crimson lining, billowing about him like a magician’s cape. He also wore black trousers and boots and a black jumper under the coat. The man had his hands dug into the scales of his allosaur’s neck as he clung on for dear life. He did not look like he was enjoying himself.

“Steady now, Joyce! Not so fast!” he was yelling at the allosaur in a rich Scottish accent. Joyce the allosaurus did not appear to be paying much attention to her rider’s pleas.

The humanoid on the other allosaurus was a petite, pretty young woman with a very round face, framed by long dark brown hair. Her lips were drawn back in a joyous smile, a stark contrast to the expression of her male companion. She was wearing a red sweater and a black and white tartan miniskirt over black stockings and sensible red shoes.

“Faster, Alice, faster!” she was calling to her allosaurus encouragingly. Sure enough her dinosaur was pulling a head of Joyce by a clear nose. The woman had her arms wrapped around Alice the allosaur’s neck and was clearly enjoying the ride more than her friend.

All of a sudden the two allosaurs burst free of the forest and onto a grassy plain that was teeming with large quadrupedal dinosaurs grazing on the luscious green vegetation. These dinosaurs had short necks and small heads attached to large bodies that had a twin row of bony plates lined across the back from neck to tail. Their long tails ended in four sharp looking spikes which they probably used in self-defence and now here they were faced with two of their natural predators dashing out of the undergrowth without any warning. On pure instinct the stegosauruses stampeded and the two racing allosaurs found themselves weaving through the panicked herbivores.

Joyce took a snap at one of the passing stegosaurs as it ambled past her, more out of habit than any actual desire to eat it.

“We’ll have none of that, thank you!” the grumpy Scottish man snapped, but his rebuke was unnecessary as his steed continued on without any further harassing of the startled stegosaur.

As they cleared the herd of stampeding stegosaurs a rectangular blue box became visible on the horizon nestled neatly between a pair of Jurassic pine trees.

On seeing the box the young woman actually shouted: “Yah! Yah!” and dug her heels into the side of her allosaurus, spurring her to run faster.

“I’d watch it if I were you, Clara!” the man called from behind her. “Alice doesn’t like it when you do that!”

“Whoops! Sorry, Alice.” Clara apologised, caressing the dinosaur’s neck soothingly. The allosaur uttered a sympathetic rumble from deep in her throat. All was forgiven.

In no time at all Clara and her dinosaur reached the blue box.

“Woah, Nelly!” Clara called and the allosaur skidded to a halt just shy of the box’s exterior doors.

Writing in English above the doors proclaimed the box to be a Police Public Call Box.

Alice the allosaurus uttered another rumble as she fidgeted outside the police box and Clara scrambled down from her back.

“Woo-hoo! I win!” Clara exclaimed as she did a little wiggle dance of victory. She watched with a smug and satisfied grin as her friend pulled up in front of her astride Joyce.

“How many is that now, eh, Doctor? 3-2 to me I reckon.” Clara teased.

The Doctor ignored her good-natured gloating. “A word to the wise, Clara. Alice does not like to be called Nelly. She says next time you do it she might eat you.” He warned her as he jumped down from Joyce’s back.

Clara’s smile faltered slightly. “Duly noted. Sorry, Alice.” She turned and petted Alice on the snout and received an affection lick on the cheek for her troubles. “Ergh!!! Dino-slobber!”

The Doctor just about stifled an amused snigger. Clara saw it and the smile returned to her face.

“That’s more like it!” she enthused. “You’ve had a right grump on since you got here! Normally you love allosaurus racing as much as I do!”

“You noticed my mood then.” The Doctor replied. “I’m sorry, Clara. I didn’t mean to put a dampener on the trip. It’s just I’ve had a lot on my mind recently.”

Joyce gave him a sympathetic nuzzle with her snout and the Doctor petted her absently.

“Well what is it?” Clara asked him. “You know you can tell me.”

The Doctor looked at his young human friend as if trying to decide whether or not to burden her with his problem.

“Alright, I suppose there’s no reason not to tell you.” He decided.

“Go on. Spit it out!” Clara encouraged.

“It’s my granddaughter, Susan.” The Doctor began.

“What about her?” Clara wondered, her curiosity suitably piqued.

“Well, as you probably remember, when I left Gallifrey all those years ago Susan left with me. We travelled together for a good while before eventually I left her behind to get married to a man whom she fell in love with whilst fighting the Daleks on Earth. Before I left her I promised her that I’d come back and see her. I did see her again, many, many years later back on Gallifrey during the Borusa Crisis and I also visited her a couple of times before the Time War, during my eighth incarnation.” The Doctor explained.

“So what’s the problem?” Clara asked.

“All those times she was grown up. She wasn’t the same young girl I left behind. And there was always some sort of crisis going on. We never got the chance to just sit and have tea and scones or something like that. I want to have tea and scones with my granddaughter!” the Doctor told her.

“Then why don’t we go?” Clara suggested simply.

“You what?” the Doctor asked, startled by the response.

“You’re always taking me to places and times where I want to go. This is the fifth time we’ve come allosaurus racing in the last six months alone. Why don’t we go somewhere that you wanna go for a change? Let’s go and have tea and scones with your granddaughter.” Clara replied.

“I wish it was that simple, Clara, but I don’t even know if she’s still alive!” the Doctor protested.

“Oh come on! You’ve got a time machine! You can travel back to a time when you know she’s alive… say, a couple of months or years after you left her on Earth. She’ll be younger as well… closer to how you remember her when you left her. Surely we can do that?” Clara suggested.

“But what about all the times I met her after that?” the Doctor reminded her. “I don’t want to influence her future decisions in any way that could alter established timelines.”

“You don’t have to talk about the future.” Clara replied. “Just talk about old times, meet the great grand-kids, drink your tea and eat scones. It could be as simple as all that!”

The Doctor’s face took on a look of sorrow at the mention of great-grandchildren, but he said nothing.      

“Alright.” He said eventually, a smile creeping slightly onto his face. “I suppose we could give it a try.”

“That’s the spirit!” Clara beamed back at him.

The Doctor unlocked the door of the police box and after bidding farewell to Joyce and Alice he ushered Clara inside.

The two allosaurs were completely unfazed when the police box slowly faded from sight, accompanied by a howling and grinding noise. Anyone would think that they had seen it all before… which of course they had.

What they hadn’t seen before was the small spherical object that suddenly blurred into existence above the area where the police box had been standing. A light blue hazy beam emitted from the sphere and scanned the area where the TARDIS had stood. Then it retracted the blue beam only to replace it with an orange beam that opened a portal into the swirling eddy of the time vortex. The sphere disappeared inside the vortex and the portal closed behind it.

It had been three years since the Dalek invasion of Earth had been defeated. London had been completely rebuilt and people were getting on with their lives. David Campbell had expressed to Susan that he would like to become a farmer after the Dalek occupation. To that end after the rebuilding of London had been completed, David and Susan had found a plot of land and built themselves a beautiful house on that land where they grew vegetables of all shapes and sizes and even kept a few pigs and chickens. These chickens were sent scurrying across the muddy yard of the Campbell’s farm as a howling and grinding noise heralded the arrival of the TARDIS. As soon as the police box achieved solidification the door opened and the Doctor and Clara stepped out.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” Clara was asking him as she looked about the dirty farm yard.

“Of course it is. I locked the TARDIS onto Susan’s artron energy signature. This is definitely the place.” The Doctor assured her.

“There doesn’t seem to be anyone about.” Clara observed.

“Perhaps they’re all in the house.” The Doctor replied, pointing over to the farm house. The front door was open.

It was then that a young handsome dark haired man came staggering out. He was bruised, battered and bloody. The man looked up and saw the Doctor and Clara standing outside the incongruous shape of the TARDIS.

“It can’t be!” the man stammered in a light Scottish accent.

“David?” the Doctor proclaimed, shocked by the battered appearance of his grandson-in-law. What had happened here?

David Campbell reached out a hand towards the Doctor and stumbled a few more paces out of the door before pitching forward and landing face first in the muddy ground.

The Doctor and Clara ran forward.

“Help me get him inside!” the Doctor instructed Clara. Together they grabbed an arm each and slung it over their shoulders before gently easing David’s unconscious form off of the ground and walking him back into the farm house.

They took him into the living room where they laid him down up the sofa.

“Get me some water and see if you can find me a first aid kit. There’s bound to be one around here somewhere!” the Doctor told Clara.

The young woman took off to carry out the Doctor’s instructions.

“Susan. Susan!” David was muttering in his delirious state.

“It’s alright, David. It’s me, the Doctor.”

“Doctor?” David groaned. His eyes flickered open as wide as dinner plates. “They took Susan!”

Clara returned with the water and the first aid kit and the Doctor took them from her and immediately set about tending to David’s cuts and bruises.

“Fortunately there are no bones broken. You should make a full recovery, but I would recommend that you take it easy for a while. Beating you took you’ll be aching all over for several days if not weeks.” The Doctor said to David who had regained some of his senses and was even sat up a little in the sofa.

“Who did this to you?” Clara asked.

David looked from the Doctor to Clara.

“I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “This is all so confusing. You say you’re the Doctor, but you look nothing like the old man that I met. And who is this? Where are Barbara and Ian?”

“Are you honestly telling me that Susan never told you about where she came from? Not once?” the Doctor barked gruffly. “Nothing about Gallifrey or Time Lords or regeneration?”

“Of course she did, but I never fully understood the concept of regeneration that she described to me. You’re the same Doctor I met, but with a different face.” He looked at Clara. “That still doesn’t tell me who you are?”

“I’m Clara.” Clara told him.

“Yes, yes, yes! Very good, we all know who we all are now. Excellent!” the Doctor snapped. “Now can we please return to the subject of what has happened to my granddaughter?”

“She’s my wife!” David riled angrily. “And I’m just as worried about her as you are!”

“So tell us what happened.” Clara said placatingly.

David looked at Clara again. He took a deep breath, ran a hand through his black hair and nodded.

“There were three of them. They just appeared as if from nowhere and grabbed Susan instantly. What with the way they had arrived they could have just left there and then, taking her with them and I would have been powerless to stop them; but they didn’t. They had a message they wanted to deliver first. A message for you, Doctor. It was as if they knew you were coming. I tried to fight, but they were too strong. One of them beat me black and blue and then they delivered their message. After that they vanished with Susan in the same way they had arrived.”

“What did they look like? Did they tell you who they were?” the Doctor asked.

“They weren’t human. They were all quite short, wearing the same dark grey space armour with helmets over their heads like… like over-turned porridge bowls with eye-slits in them. And they all had three fingers on each hand. They said that they were the Blood of Stor.” David told him.

“Sontarans!” the Doctor muttered grimly.

“Why would the Sontarans kidnap Susan?” Clara wondered.

“I don’t know.” The Doctor admitted. “But I intend to find out. What was the message, David?”

“They said that they would be holding Susan on the planet Septer VII and that if you wanted Susan back you could come and get her. That was it. Doctor, if you’re going to this planet then I want to come with you!” David insisted.

“You’re in no fit state to travel, young David. I’m sure Susan would prefer it if you stayed here and recovered. Clara and I will go and get her back.” The Doctor replied.

“It’s obviously a trap!” Clara pointed out.

“Of course it is. Which is why we’re going to pick up some help along the way. I wonder why they chose Septer VII?” the Doctor mused thoughtfully.

“Does it matter?” Clara wondered.

“There must be a purpose behind it all. I just don’t know what it is yet.” The Doctor replied.

“The Sontarans might not be very happy about you bringing help along.” Clara observed.

“I don’t want you to do anything that could endanger Susan!” David protested.

“Nonsense. The Sontarans love a challenge. The Greater the odds the greater the glory! If I took a whole army with me they’d probably thank me!” the Doctor assured them.

“I hope you’re right.” David replied doubtfully.

The Doctor and Clara started towards the door.

“Get better, David. I’ll have Susan back in no time. You can get the tea and scones ready!” the Doctor called as they left.

They ran straight into the TARDIS and seconds later, with its usual noisy fanfare, it faded away.

 

“So who do you have in mind for helping us?” Clara wondered as the Doctor busied himself at the console.

“Several someones actually. You might even remember the first lot.” The Doctor replied cryptically.

“Someone I’ve met before then.” Clara mused thoughtfully.

A smile crept across her face as she realised who it might be.

 

The TARDIS materialised within a spacious Victorian courtyard shrouded in thick pea-soup fog. Shortly afterwards the Doctor and Clara emerged.

“Vastra! Jenny! Strax! Are you about?” the Doctor shouted.

A squat figure in a tuxedo and a head shaped like a potato appeared on the balcony above them.

“Ah, Doctor. Clara. Mistresses Vastra and Jenny are currently engaged in a bout of naked sport in their bed chamber. Shall I boil a pot of tea while we wait for them to finish?” the squat potato man, Strax, greeted them.

“No time, Strax. Go and get them up. We’ve got work to do!” the Doctor told him.

“Very well.” Strax replied curtly. “But the Mistresses do not appreciate when their sport is interrupted.” He turned and went back inside.

The Doctor and Clara flinched when they heard raised female voices from inside the grand Victorian house. A short while later Strax reappeared on the balcony. This time he was accompanied by two women. One was a striking, regal looking reptilian with green scaly skin and a three-pointed crest on her head. The other was a beautiful young human woman with slightly untidy black hair. Her cheeks were flushed a deep shade of pink and she was breathing heavily as if she had been engaged in some form of vigorous exercise. Both looked like they had dressed hurriedly into their Victorian tunics and breeches and neither looked very happy to have been disturbed.

“What is it that is so important, Doctor, that it could not wait for us to finish…” Vastra, the Silurian began.

“Cleaning!” Jenny finished for her. “We were just cleaning.”

The Doctor ignored the disgruntled tone in Vastra’s voice and got straight to the point.

“Susan, my granddaughter has been kidnapped. I want you to help me get her back.”

“Who by?” Vastra asked, her earlier frustration gone as if it had never been there.  

The Doctor looked at Strax when he answered. “The Sontarans. I’ll understand if you want to sit this one out, Strax.”

“Thank you, Doctor. That won’t be necessary. I know where my loyalties lie and if you need me I’ll be there, no matter whom we might be up against.” Strax replied seriously.

“Thank you, Strax. It means a lot to hear you say that.” The Doctor then addressed the trio as a whole. “Grab whatever you think you might need and come. We leave immediately.”

 

A short while later the TARDIS was spinning on its way to the next pick up.

 

The space port was bustling with activity of all shapes and sizes and species from across the galaxy.

Here there was a Sensorite giving psychic readings in a little booth tucked away in a corner of the market deck. There were two imposing Martian Ice Warriors haggling with a Lurman trader. And then there was the giant muscle-bound man-sized squirrel shopping for weapons with a pretty young human woman and a little girl of about twelve who also had some squirrel in her features; the cute button nose, the tufted, pointy ears, the whiskers and the chestnut red fur. Not to mention the bushy tail sticking out the back of her blue overalls.

“Well, Chipmunk,” the squirrel man was saying. “You’re mother and I did promise to buy you your first gun when you reached twelve years. Which one is it gonna be?”

Chipmunk surveyed the assortment of various weapons on the rack in front of her. She finally settled upon the huge plasma thrower that was almost as tall as she was, taking it down from the rack with both paws and hefting onto her shoulder.

“This one!” she squeaked in the most adorable voice you could imagine would come from a twelve year old human-squirrel hybrid.

“Good choice!” her father whistled in approval.

The mother frowned at her husband and then looked at her daughter.

“Pick a smaller one!” she insisted firmly.

“Ah man!” Chipmunk complained as she replaced the plasma thrower and selected a more modestly sized hand-blaster instead.

Mother smiled her approval. It was daddy’s turn to scowl, but he kept his mouth shut. He knew better than to argue with his wife over things like this.

The air around them was suddenly filled with a loud howling and grinding. The family of three looked about them to see where the noise was coming from, as did everyone else on the market deck.

A rectangular blue box materialised in the centre of the walkway not far away from where the family stood.

“The Doctor!” the squirrel man remarked in astonishment as he recognised the box.

As soon as materialisation was complete the door opened and a tall man with spiky grey hair, in a long black coat, black jumper and black trousers stepped out.

“Ah, Squirrel, Tammy! I knew I could rely on the TARDIS to find you both.” The man proclaimed upon his exit.

“Who are you? What are you doing with the Doctor’s TARDIS?” Squirrel demanded of the stranger gruffly.

“What are you talking about, man? I am the Doctor!” the Doctor retorted in indignation. Then a smile creased his lined features. “Of course! Last time you met me I was all teeth and curls with the long scarf, right?”

“That’s pretty accurate, yeah!” Tammy agreed.

“I don’t know if I mentioned it last time we met, but I’m a Time Lord and I’ve regenerated several times since our last encounter with the Cybermen on that derelict ship.” The Doctor explained helpfully.

“I’d heard that the Time Lords were all extinct.” Squirrel remarked doubtfully.

“All but one! I am that one.” The Doctor informed him. “Don’t you remember how I helped you save Tammy from the clutches of the Cybermen?”

“You did at that.” Squirrel nodded, a smile breaking out across his rodent-features. “If not for you then Tammy might be dead and our daughter, Chipmunk, might never have been born.”

The Doctor seemed to see the little girl for the first time and his smile broadened ever wider.

“A girl! You had a little girl!” he exclaimed joyously. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a crumpled white paper bag. “Here have a jelly baby… no have the entire bag!”

Chipmunk accepted the bag off the Doctor. She took out a red jelly baby and popped it into her mouth. Her little face lit up with a smile and she quickly took out another.

“What do you say to the Doctor?” Tammy reprimanded gently.

“Thank you, Mr Doctor, sir.” Chipmunk squeaked through a mouthful of jelly baby.

“My pleasure.” The Doctor beamed.

“Now what can I do for you, Doc?” Squirrel asked.

“It’s my granddaughter, Susan. She’s been kidnapped.” The Doctor told him.

“Is it the Cybermen again?” Tammy wondered.

“Sontarans.” The Doctor answered. “Will you help me, Squirrel?”

“Just let me kiss my wife and daughter good bye and I’m all yours.” Squirrel declared with a wink.

“I’ll see you in the TARDIS.” The Doctor replied gratefully and he ducked back inside the police box.

Squirrel turned to face Tammy, expecting an argument, so he was surprised to see his wife smiling.

“We owe the Doctor big time, so go and help him.” Tammy said. “Just make sure you come back in one piece. That’s an order!”

Squirrel saluted.

“Yes, ma’am!”

 

As soon as Squirrel had stepped on board the TARDIS the Doctor had set them in flight again… onwards to the next destination. The Doctor turned away from the console to find Squirrel and Strax pacing around each other.

“Is everything alright, gents?” the Doctor asked, sensing the tension between them.

“You have a Sontaran on board, Doctor!” Squirrel replied tersely.

“Ten out of ten for observation, Squirrel!” the Doctor beamed. “I wouldn’t worry too much; Strax is on our side, aren’t you, Strax?”

“Why have you brought this rodent vermin on board, Doctor?” Strax sneered.

“Because Squirrel here is a useful man to have around in a nasty situation. If you think he’s vermin, wait until you’ve seen who I’m picking up next!” the Doctor replied.

 

The eight foot tall humanoid rat in black space armour brought his nine-barrelled plasma thrower to bear upon the encroaching Wirrn, a huge wasp-like alien insect, and blasted it to smithereens in mid leap. That accounted for that Wirrn, but there were hundreds of others closing in and there was nowhere else in this subterranean tunnel system for the rat and his two human companions to run.

The rat was actually a member of the species known as the Grendel. The two humans were friends of his; one male, a grizzled man with grey stubble on his face and head, a bionic left eye and dressed in brown khaki combat fatigues, toting a heavy two-handed blaster rifle; the other was a young, beautiful woman with short black hair and blue eyes wearing a lilac space suit and brandishing a laser pistol. The trio stood back to back firing their weapons into the surrounding Wirrn swarm.

Wirrn were dropping like flies every second, but it was only a matter of time before the humans and Grendel were overwhelmed.

“Who’s idea was it to come down here again?” the Grendel remarked drily as he blasted apart two more Wirrn in quick succession.

“Caitlin said there’d be ancient treasure in these tunnels left behind by the Tereleptil colonists who abandoned the planet!” the man reminded him.

“Yeah! I think we can guess why they abandoned it now, eh, Maxell?” the Grendel chuckled.

“I’m sorry, Vrakel, but there is no way you’re pinning our current predicament on me!” Caitlin protested as she calmly blasted neat holes into several Wirrn. “’Let’s go and see what’s in those tunnels over there!’ I believe were the words you used!”

“Guys, guys! Relax!” Maxell chided. “This is hardly worse than that time back on the Boneyard when we were surrounded by hundreds of flesh eating Grendel… No offence, Vrakel!”

“None taken!” Vrakel assured him with a smile.

“With all due respect, on that occasion we had the luxury of a Time Lord’s TARDIS to escape into. We don’t have that now!” Caitlin pointed out.

As if on cue a familiar howling and grinding rent the air and the blue police box shape of said TARDIS faded slowly into existence between them and the Wirrn.

Vrakel and Maxell looked at Caitlin in astonishment.

“Did you just do that?” Maxell wondered.

Caitlin just shook her head. She was just as surprised as they were.

The doors opened and a man with spiky grey hair stuck his head out.

“Well don’t just stand there! Get in!”

They didn’t need telling twice. The trio piled into the TARDIS and the doors closed behind them.

Seconds later the TARDIS faded away and left the Wirrn far behind.

 

Introductions were quickly made as soon as the TARDIS was in flight again. Vrakel and Squirrel squared up to each other and held up their respective plasma throwers.

“Snap!” they said in unison which was the first step on the road to instant camaraderie.

Strax on the other hand was a different matter.

“Are you aware that you have a Grendel on board, Doctor?” the Sontaran asked.

The Doctor’s eyebrows perked up in mock surprise. “Really? Are you sure it’s not just a really big human with a hairy face and big ears?”

“Are you mocking me, Doctor?” Strax seethed.

“Just a little. What gave it away? Was it the fact that my lips were moving?” the Doctor replied sarcastically. “Don’t worry about Vrakel, Strax, he’s strictly a vegetarian.”

“Except for those Earth hot dogs!” Vrakel enthused. “Them’s good eatin’!”

The Grendel regarded Strax with a mischievous twinkle.

“Even if I wasn’t a vegetarian, Grendel don’t like the taste of Sontarans anyhow. Them’s not good eatin’… or at least so I’ve heard.” Vrakel chuckled. “Perhaps that’s why my people have entered into an alliance with yours, since they can’t eat ‘em they might as well join ‘em!” He laughed heartily at this.

The Doctor was suddenly alert and up in Vrakel’s face.

“What did you just say?” he asked.

“Sontarans don’t make good eating?” Vrakel repeated.

“No, no! After that! The bit about the Sontarans being in an alliance with the Grendel!” the Doctor said. “How long has that been going on for I wonder? The Sontarans aren’t usually big on having allies.”

“That’s right!” Strax confirmed. “My people have no need of help from inferior species!”

“I’m guessing that you must really be out of touch with things on your home planet?” Vrakel marvelled. “I may be an exile from the Boneyard, but I always keep my ear to the ground regarding the goings on of my people. The Sondel Alliance has been going strong now for the last fifteen years.”

“Sondel Alliance?” the Doctor questioned. Where had he heard that name before?   

“Son as in Sontaran and del as in Grendel.” Vrakel replied.

The memory of the name returned to the Doctor as if a switch inside his head had just been turned on.

“In 1967 I encountered robots made by the Sondel Corporation that tried to kill me and some old friends of mine. That must have been a front for the Sondel Alliance!” he realised.

“Could this have something to do with why they’ve kidnapped your granddaughter?” Clara wondered.

“Yes I think so.” The Doctor replied. “But what is the connection? Why would the Sontarans and the Grendel want to kill Ian and Barbara? They only met the Sontarans that one time on that asteroid and they never met the Grendel at all!”

“Something must have happened during that one encounter with the Sontarans that has instigated this chain of events?” Vastra surmised.

“I can’t see how!” the Doctor replied. “We didn’t kill the Sontaran we met. Might have humiliated him a little, but he was alive when we left him and there was no one about to witness his humiliation.”

“Perhaps something happened to him after you left him?” Vastra pressed. “Something he still holds a grudge about after all these years.”

“This is all supposition and speculation! It’s not going to help us get Susan back!” the Doctor griped. He turned to the console and operated a few switches. Suddenly the doors of the TARDIS swung open. The purple and orange swirl of the vortex was visible through the open doors.

“This on the other hand will!” the Doctor bounded over to the doors with his sonic screwdriver in his hand. He grabbed hold of the side of the TARDIS with one hand and leaned out into the vortex. With his free hand he reached out and activated the sonic screwdriver. The green light flashed and there was a shrill whirring noise and something spherical dropped out of the air and landed in the TARDIS. It rolled along the floor and came to rest at Caitlin’s feet. She bent over and picked it up.

“What’s this?” she wondered.

The Doctor had come back inside and closed the doors again behind him. He walked over and plucked the sphere from Caitlin’s hand.

“This object has been tracking the TARDIS ever since Clara and I left the Jurassic era on Earth a few hours ago. This is how the Sontarans knew when to find Susan and were able to get there before us. This device has been relaying our every move back to the Sontarans. They know I have an army ready to fight them and they don’t care because like I said before, the Sontarans like a challenge. I was happy for them to see all that. What I don’t want them to see is what I’m going to do next!” the Doctor explained.

“What are you going to do next? We can’t afford to waste any more time, surely? God knows what they’ll do to Susan in the meantime.” Clara argued.

“You’re forgetting, Clara, that I’m a Time Lord and time is the one thing that we have in abundance. Just you wait and see!”

 

Septer VII was a planet that had seven rings encircling its body that criss-crossed diagonally. The rings were the remains of an ancient planet that had been destroyed long ago that had come into this decorative orbit around Septer VII over the course of several centuries.

The surface of Septer VII was a hybrid of idyllic green jungle and towering mountain ranges that were constantly ravaged by perpetual lightning storms. In the centre of one of these jungles an arena had been built long ago, almost as old as the rings that orbited the planet. The lightning only ever troubled the mountain tops; the lush forests were peaceful and tranquil in comparison and teeming with indigenous life forms of all shapes and sizes imaginable and beyond.

It was at the edge of such a forest, outside the mysterious stone arena, that the TARDIS materialised, the trumpeting call of its engines sending alien birds fluttering to the heavens.

Not long after its arrival the TARDIS’s doors opened and expelled its passengers upon the surface of the planet. The Doctor, Clara, Vastra, Jenny, Strax, Squirrel, Maxell, Vrakel and Caitlin.

Everyone looked in awe at the magnificent circular structure of the arena before them that looked like it had been hewn from one massive piece of stone. There were steps leading up to an arched doorway that led into the arena.

“Rather an apt location for our final showdown with the big bad guys, eh?” the Doctor remarked with a smile. “According to the artron energy readings that’s where they’re holding Susan. Shall we go in?”

“Let’s go!” Squirrel growled.

Everyone began to ascend towards the entrance.

When they passed through the entrance two Grendel warriors that had been standing either side of the portal moved in front of it to block any escape route back to the TARDIS. One of them had a large cannon of some sort instead of a right arm and the other carried itself on caterpillar treads instead of legs and toted an electro-blaster.

The Doctor and his friends had no desire to escape, however, and ignored the two Grendel. They were more interested in the sinister ensemble assembled before them in the centre of the arena. Spherical ocular devices zipped to and fro around the open area, recording everything that occurred on the ground below.

Among the ensemble there were ten Sontarans, all without helmets accept for the biggest one that stood in the centre; there were also four other Grendel warriors sporting different weapons and cybernetic enhancements. Two of them were even in Grabbers, towering mech-suits with telescopic arms, striding legs and cages on the back. Only the heads of the Grendel were visible from the tops of the mechanoid armour. The big Sontaran also appeared to be encased in some sort of Sontaran-shaped mech-suit, which was what made him appear bigger than his brethren. This big Sontaran had Susan standing in front of him, one of his hands resting on her shoulder, but otherwise she was unharmed.

The Doctor noticed something oddly familiar about all of the helmetless Sontarans gathered before him. Sontarans were a cloned species anyway so there were always going to be similarities, but there were usually enough differences to distinguish one Sontaran from another. However, the Doctor had an uncanny feeling that he had encountered all of these Sontarans before.

First things first though…

“Susan, are you alright? They haven’t harmed you?”

“No, Grandfather, I’m fine. It’s good to see you again, even though you look so different.” Susan replied, calm and brave despite her predicament.

“I wish it were under more pleasant circumstances.” The Doctor lamented. “I was thinking more along the lines of tea and scones than Sontarans and lasers.”

“How very touching!” the big Sontaran rasped. He released his grip on Susan’s shoulder. “You may go to your grandfather and be at his side during his last moments. Now that you are here, Doctor, I no longer need her as a hostage.”

Susan ran over and embraced the Doctor. He returned the embrace warmly, but his eyes never left the big Sontaran.

“So you’re the organ grinder behind all these monkeys.” He remarked. “If I give you all a bag of peanuts will you go away and leave my family alone?”

“It is going to take more than _peanuts_ to settle the debt that exists between you and I, Doctor!” the Sontaran chuckled amicably.

“And what debt might that be? I don’t even know who you are!” the Doctor replied. “Granted, your friends all look uncannily familiar to me, but I’ve no idea who you might be.”

“I had hoped that maybe our location might jog your memory, but as it has not, look upon me and remember!” as the Sontaran spoke the helmet-canopy of his mech-suit slid back to reveal the face of a ravaged Sontaran; the entire left side was practically missing and had been reconstructed with cybernetics, no doubt provided by the Grendel. The right side was more traditionally Sontaran, though there was a horrific burn scar that had rendered the right eye lidless so that it never blinked and so appeared to be constantly staring and the mouth had been twisted into a permanent grin of malevolence that chilled the blood of whomever it was turned upon.

“Nope. Sorry. Haven’t a clue who you are. How many more guesses do I get?” the Doctor retorted dryly.

The Sontaran seemed to literally tremble with fury at this.

“Even now you do not remember?” he roared.

“If I had seen a Sontaran as ugly as you, trust me, I would never forget.” The Doctor replied.

“I have not always looked this way. It is because of you that I had to be rebuilt by my Grendel friends into this life support armour. It is because of you that I am an outcast from my people. Think, Doctor, remember the asteroid with its hidden army of unborn Sontarans waiting to be called into glorious battle. The army that you destroyed! Remember the Sontaran Commander who was responsible for watching over those hatchlings… the Commander whom you and your human friends humiliated before leaving him for dead and destroying his charges. I was that Commander! I am Vorn!”

“Yes… I remember now. You were with me, Susan and so were Ian and Barbara. It was you, Vorn that sent those robots to kill Ian and Barbara back on Earth in 1967… the Sondel Corporation!” the Doctor riled angrily.

“Ian and Barbara are dead?” Susan cried.

“No, I saved them.” The Doctor assured her.

“You did, but it matters not for I need only destroy you, Doctor to restore my honour and claim my place as Emperor of the Sontarans!” Vorn snarled.

“You’re wrong though, Vorn. We did not destroy your hatchlings. After Ian defeated you in combat we left you alive and departed in the TARDIS. There was a space battle in progress nearby during our visit… perhaps your asteroid was destroyed by a stray missile from that conflict?” the Doctor suggested.

“Even if that is so, you are still responsible!” Vorn growled.

“How so?” the Doctor asked.

“If I had not been distracted by your intrusion and subsequently rendered unconscious I would have been able to activate the power-field that would have deflected any stray missiles from the battle. Therefore, even if you were not directly responsible, ultimately the blame still rests with you for your interference in my duty. It is because of you that I failed my hatchlings and that is why you must die!” Vorn pointed an accusatory finger at the Doctor.

“If you’re such an outcast from Sontaran society then who are all these other Sontarans? Fellow outcasts?” the Doctor wondered.

Vorn began to laugh again and his fellow Sontarans joined in with the mirth.

“Something’s tickled their fancy!” the Doctor remarked to his friends amiably.

“Before I went into exile I raided the DNA archives from the Hall of Fallen Heroes on Sontar. Using the DNA taken from there I was able to resurrect all of the Sontaran heroes that you have ever defeated in battle. You see, Doctor, this isn’t just my vengeance, but theirs as well!” Vorn cackled malevolently.

“You mean…” the Doctor stammered.

“Yes behold!” Vorn swept out his arm and each of his comrades introduced themselves in turn.

“Commander Linx, defeated by you on Earth in the 13th Century.”

“Field Major Styre! You sabotaged my experiments and prevented an invasion of Earth.”

Then there were three identical Sontaran warriors…

“We are the Blood of Stor. You wiped him from existence with the De-Mat gun during the invasion of Gallifrey, but his legacy lives on in us!”

“Group Marshall Stike and Major Varl. There were two of you that thwarted our attempts to steal the secret of time travel from your very DNA!”

Then finally…

“General Staal and Commander Skorr. You defeated our ATMOS Stratagem that would have converted the Earth into a breeding ground for more hatchlings.”

“Remember them now, Doctor?” Vorn sneered.

“Yes, I remember.” The Doctor confirmed. “I’m still not entirely certain that I get the whole Grendel aspect of this though.”

“When my asteroid was destroyed, whether by stray missiles or by your sabotage, my broken body drifted through space, barely clinging to life. I was discovered by a Grendel scavenger ship and taken on board. Being a Grendel my saviour’s first instinct was to try and eat me. That was the occasion when the Grendel discovered that Sontaran flesh was not palatable to their taste buds!” Vorn chuckled and the surrounding Grendel joined in. “Having decided that he could not eat me, my saviour instead befriended me. He saved my life… completely rebuilt me into what you see before you today. The Grendel have been my friends and allies ever since that day. That Grendel… his name was Groxel Shlek, once crash landed on Earth during what you would term the 8th or 9th Century. During that time he came into conflict with an individual named Beowulf and was killed. Somehow this primitive human then managed to send Groxel’s ship back into space where I found it. This ‘Beowulf’ didn’t realise that he had been picked up and recorded by the ship’s on board security surveillance system. On viewing the log I was able to identify ‘Beowulf’ as being none other than… you!”

“So you also want vengeance for the death of your friend.” The Doctor realised.

“Indeed, but that is not your only crime against the Grendel. Was it not you that brought down the cloaking shield that shrouded their planet? After that they suffered retaliation from all the races that had fallen prey to them throughout the centuries. They were forced to engage the drive system that propelled their planet and flee the galaxy. Many Grendel lives were lost before their aggressors gave up the pursuit.” Vorn told him.

“Yes, well, they brought that upon themselves… It was what they deserved!” the Doctor retorted angrily.

“Now you are going to get what you deserve!” Vorn rasped.

“We’ll see about that.” The Doctor replied calmly. He had slipped his sonic screwdriver into his hand and surreptitiously activated it long enough for it to emit a low electronic hum. Once that was done he replaced the screwdriver back into his pocket. The gesture seemed so harmless and innocuous that Vorn and his compatriots paid it no heed.

“Eradicate them all! Leave no one alive!” Vorn commanded.

It was then that the Battle of Septer VII began!   

Before any shots could be fired the ground beneath them began to shake and suddenly, without warning, solid stone walls began sprouting out of the ground at random points within the arena.

“What is this?” Vorn growled in confusion.

“Scatter! Stick to the plan! Don’t die and don’t shoot Strax or Vrakel by accident!” the Doctor managed to shout before everyone was separated by the walls.

The Doctor found himself alone with Susan.

“Well that should make it harder for them to just shoot us. Gives us a chance.” The Doctor said to no one in particular.

“Where did all these walls come from, Grandfather? Did you do all this?” Susan asked.

“A magician never reveals his secrets.” The Doctor replied with a wink.

It was then that Commander Linx and Field Major Styre rounded the corner. They spotted the Doctor and Susan instantly and Linx raised his rod-like weapon.

“Especially when he’s running for his life from homicidal clones!” the Doctor amended. He grabbed Susan’s hand. “RUN!”

They ran just as a laser bolt from Linx’s weapon blasted a hole in the wall behind them.

Styre placed his hand on Linx’s arm and made him lower his gun.

“Hold your fire, Commander Linx.” Styre pulled a long wicked looking serrated knife from his belt. “I have a personal score to settle with the Doctor that a gun just won’t settle!”

They set off in pursuit.

 

In all the confusion Clara had found herself thrown together with Caitlin. Caitlin walked ahead of Clara, her laser pistol held before her in both hands, ready for action.

“So, how do you know the Doctor then?” Clara asked conversationally.

“He helped Maxell and Vrakel get me off the Grendel home planet one time when my ship crash landed there.” Caitlin explained. “Back then he was travelling with two women who knew how to handle themselves and of course he looked a lot different as well. Younger and… shorter. Still Scottish though!”

“Are you implying that I don’t know how to handle myself?” Clara bristled in indignation.

Caitlin spared her a cursory glance over her shoulder.

“Look at you. You don’t even have a gun!” she chided.

“The Doctor doesn’t do guns. Neither do I for that matter!” Clara snapped irritably.

“Ace and Bernice both had guns and they travelled with the Doctor. People who don’t use guns can still get killed by them you know.” Caitlin pointed.

“I’m not Ace and Bernice and I’m certainly not planning on getting shot anytime soon.” Clara retorted. “Anyway, if the Doctor’s plan has worked we might not need to shoot anyone.”

They rounded a corner and walked smack bang into the Blood of Stor. The three Sontarans were armed with blaster rifles which they quickly raised upon encountering the two women.

Before they could fire Caitlin got off two shots of her own. The first shot missed and whizzed over the heads of the Sontaran trio. The second shot, however, burned into the skull of the central Sontaran and he crashed to the floor with a scorched hole in his head.

“We will avenge you, brother!” the left Sontaran rasped as he and his remaining clone-brother opened fire.

Caitlin and Clara ducked back behind the corner and narrowly avoided being cut down by blaster fire.

“Back this way. I’ve got an idea!” Clara beckoned and led Caitlin back the way they had come.

When the two remaining Blood of Stor realised that their quarry was not shooting back they advanced side by side along the corridor, their rifles held aloft and ready to fire at the first sight of the enemy.

 

Vastra and Jenny were being chased by the two Grendel Grabbers around the twists and turns of the newly formed labyrinth. They dodged and weaved, as graceful as ballerinas as the long telescopic arms reached for them.

“Nothing like a brisk jog to whet the appetite, eh, Ma’am?” Jenny flashed a cheeky grin at her wife.

“Appetite for what though?” Vastra winked. “I hear that Sontarans don’t taste so good. I wonder if that’s true of the Grendel too?”

“I don’t mean to find out, Ma’am!” Jenny replied impishly.

They finally ran out of labyrinth to run in when they came to a dead end. Both women turned to face their approaching pursuers, katana blades naked in their hands.

The Grabbers were forced to advance in single file down the narrow passage meaning that Vastra and Jenny could tackle them one at a time if they wished. But where was the fun in that?

Before the two mechs could advance any further Jenny and Vastra sprinted towards them, blades raised. The lead Grabber reached for them with its arms, but the two women leapt over the claws and onto the outstretched arms. Like two daring tightrope artists they ran up the arms and up onto the main body of the mech-suit. The Grendel inside the suit, only his head poking out of the armour, yelped in horror as he saw Vastra’s blade swish towards him and then … SCHLICK!!! His head tumbled sideways in a torrent of blood and fell to the stone ground below.

Jenny had bounded onto the Grabber behind and drove her katana point first into the top of the Grendel operator’s skull. She pulled the blade free again, causing an arc of gore to splatter her tunic and the wall behind her. Without their operators to guide them the Grabbers promptly became inert.

Jenny and Vastra regarded each other hungrily, both panting from the exertion.

“My dear, Jenny! Your tunic is all dirty! You’ll have to take it off!” Vastra teased.

“Now, now, Ma’am! Plenty of time for that later. The Doctor still needs our help.” Jenny chastised with a provocative grin.

“Yes, I suppose you’re right!” Vastra sighed in disappointment. “Come along!”

The two women leapt onto the walls either side of them and began running along them in search of more trouble.

 

Trouble had already found Strax who had found himself paired with Squirrel when the labyrinth walls came up. They had come up against the resurrected Sontarans Stike and Varl along with one of their Grendel allies. Opening fire with their weapons they had discovered that the Grendel was generating a personal force field which he had extended around the two Sontarans. Now Squirrel and Strax were tactically withdrawing as fast as they could back down the corridor, laser beams zipping around them as they went.

“Must you run backwards like that?” Squirrel scowled at his Sontaran companion.

“A Sontaran must always face his enemies! Even in times of retreat!” Strax replied with an air of condescension.

“How about if I was your enemy?” Squirrel asked with a smirk.

“Don’t be silly, Rodent!” Strax remarked. “If you were my enemy I would just do this!” With those words Strax stopped running and without warning, turned and blasted Squirrel point blank with his laser rifle.

Squirrel toppled to the floor with a look of astonishment across his squirrely features.

“You can stop firing now! I’m on your side!” Strax called to the pursuing Sontarans.

Stike, Varl and the Grendel lowered their weapons.

“Why should we let you join us?” Stike challenged. “You have fought alongside the Doctor! You are a traitor to the Sontaran Empire!”

“We are all outcasts from the Empire here, but you are all seeking to regain your honour by killing the Doctor. Do I not have the right to try and reclaim my honour too?” Strax argued. As he spoke he kept glancing surreptitiously at a carving on the wall ahead between where he stood and where Stike, Varl and the Grendel were standing. It depicted a crude arrow pointing downwards.

“It cannot harm to give the worm a chance, Marshall.” Varl suggested.

Stike nodded his consent, or at least he nodded as much as a Sontaran is able to.

“Very well, but throw down your weapon. You must prove to us your sincerity before we will allow you to be armed in our presence.” The Marshall conceded.

“As you wish, Group Marshall!” Strax bowed and tossed his laser rifle onto the ground so that it lay beneath where the arrow was pointing.

Varl and the Grendel kept Strax covered with their weapons as the trio advanced. When they reached the spot where Strax’s rifle lay something unexpected occurred.

The ground suddenly opened up beneath them and the trio fell down into a pit… a pit filled with proximity grenades. As soon as the sensors within the grenades detected the proximity of the two Sontarans and the Grendel… BA-BOOM!!!!  

Strax stepped back a pace as a fireball belched forth from the hole in the ground before him. The Sontaran was smiling like a child watching a fireworks display.

“He did it! He actually took on board one of my suggestions!” Strax muttered to himself proudly.

His smile broadened when a Sontaran leg, ravaged and spattered with green gore slapped upon the ground at his feet. He recognised it as belonging to the Group Marshall, Stike.

Behind him Squirrel was clambering groggily to his feet after having regained consciousness.

“You shot me!” he exclaimed with more than a hint of irritation.

Strax turned and offered Squirrel a hand, pulling him to his feet.

“The weapon was only set to stun, my rodent friend. I had to make it look good for my deception to work.” He indicated Stike’s leg on the ground. “As you can see everything went swimmingly!”

“Gotta admit. You did good, shorty!” Squirrel conceded and he gave Strax a hearty slap on the back… right on the probic vent.

Strax’s eyes widened in pained shock and he toppled forwards like a stricken oak tree.

“Whoops!” Squirrel chuckled.

 

Maxell and Vrakel had actually succeeded in getting the drop on General Staal, Commander Skorr and their Grendel ally. They turned a corner and there they were just standing there with their backs to the corner.

“Trust me, Skorr. There is no need for us to embroil ourselves in the Doctor’s infernal maze. If we wait around here long enough the enemy will come to us!” Staal could be heard saying.

Maxell and Vrakel quickly ducked back round the corner.

“They didn’t see us.” Vrakel affirmed. “We can’t just shoot them in the back, can we? We’re supposed to be the good guys.”

“Nah I guess not.” Maxell agreed. “Though I have to wonder how Staal made General if this is his idea of strategy!”

“So what do we do?” Vrakel asked.

“We turn the corner, shout to get their attention…” he paused for affect.

“And?” Vrakel pressed.

“And then we shoot them… just as soon as they turn round and before they can shoot us.” Maxell replied.

“I like it!” Vrakel grinned.

“Let’s go!” Maxell said before darting round the corner again, his blaster rifle ready.

Vrakel lifted his plasma thrower and followed.

“Hey, you guys looking for someone?” Maxell called.

The two Sontarans and the Grendel spun round, their own weapons raised, but Maxell and Vrakel fired first.

General Staal was struck in the head and upper torso by several devastating energy bursts from Maxell. He was dead before he even hit the floor.

Skorr and the Grendel were both incinerated by the same burst of plasma from Vrakel’s thrower. They both slowly sagged to the ground screaming as their bodies were consumed by the molten plasma. Maxell stepped over to put a round in each of their heads so as not to prolong their agony.

“Come on. Let’s go find the Doctor.” Maxell said.

The Doctor and Susan had reached a dead end in their flight from Linx and Styre. Their backs were against the wall as Styre advanced menacingly with his serrated blade raised whilst Linx kept them covered with his energy weapon.

“Remember when you challenged me to single combat, Doctor?” Styre taunted. “You wore me out so that I would have to go back to my ship to revitalise myself. Your human pet sabotaged my terullian diode bypass transformer so that when I tried to absorb the energy I needed it instead absorbed me!”

“Did I really? It was such a long time ago!” the Doctor replied flippantly.

“This time the outcome will be different and I will destroy you, once and for all!” Styre assured him.

He raised his knife and prepared to strike.

“Doctor, catch!” a voice sounded from above.

The Doctor and Susan looked up and even Styre and Linx turned to see Vastra up on the wall.

She threw her katana sword and the Doctor deftly caught it by the handle.

He swished the blade from side to side like a demented pirate and grinned at Styre.

“Now I’d say we’re even, Styre! _En Garde_!!!” the Doctor lunged at Styre with the katana forcing the Sontaran to jump backwards. Styre quickly regained his composure and swung his blade savagely at the Doctor, who parried effortlessly.

“Have I ever told you that I was taught how to fence by Errol Flynn? Or was it Cyrano De Bergerac?” the Doctor taunted with a smile as he flicked his blade upwards and slashed the tip of the Sontaran’s nose, drawing a bead of green blood.

Linx dared not interfere with the battle before him. It was a matter of honour for his comrade, Styre. The Silurian female was another matter entirely though and he raised his blaster to shoot her down off the wall.

Seeing what Linx was about to do Vastra jumped down and kicked the gun from his hand.

“No matter!” Linx rasped. He raised his arms into a fighting stance. “I do not need a weapon to destroy you!”

“Or I, you!” Vastra returned. She launched herself into the air and planted a flying kick into Linx’s chest that sent him staggering back. The Sontaran quickly recovered and swung his arms savagely like scythe-blades in a counter attack. Vastra back flipped out of his reach and landed in crouched fighting pose. Linx ran at her and the fight continued.

 

Clara and Caitlin were still fighting a running battle with the final two brethren of the Blood of Stor, trading laser blasts along the labyrinthine corridors. So far neither side had been able to land any further hits.

“I’m not sure how long I can keep this up for!” Caitlin panted. “The power pack on my laser is almost exhausted. We were fighting Wirrn before the Doctor picked us up and I was already down to my last power cartridge then!”

“We have to keep running!” Clara urged. “We’re bound to lead them into one of the Doctor’s booby traps eventually.”

The two women turned another corner and for a moment lost sight of the pursuing Sontarans. They took this opportunity to run as far as they could without having to duck and weave through a volley of laser bolts. Half way down the corridor Clara stopped running and signalled for Caitlin to do the same.

“What is it?” Caitlin asked impatiently. “Come on! Those Sontarans will be round that corner any second now!”

“Just look and listen will you!” Clara snapped in full-on strict school teacher mode.

Caitlin did as she was told.

The firing of lasers had stopped and all that could be heard for a few brief seconds was a swooshing sound accompanied by a few dull thuds and the wet squelch of metal slicing into raw meat. Then silence.

Clara and Caitlin waited with baited breath to see if anyone would come around the corner.

When no one did they walked slowly and cautiously back the way they had come to investigate. Caitlin led the way, her nearly depleted laser pistol held aloft and ready to fire if needed.

Upon rounding the corner they found themselves looking at an astonishing tableau.

Jenny was standing over the bleeding corpses of the two Sontarans wiping green ichor from the blade of her katana with a silk handkerchief. She beamed cheekily upon seeing Clara and Caitlin.

“’Ello, ladies. Thought you could use some help.”

 

The Doctor was honouring Errol Flynn’s name in style as he danced and pirouetted around Styre, their blades clashing together noisily as they fought. Styre was beginning to show signs of flagging, but he refused to give up his relentless onslaught, so determined was he to kill the Doctor.

“You know there really is no need for you or Linx to be hanging around with an outcast like Vorn!” the Doctor chided.

“We are outcasts too. Vorn will help us to regain our honour!” Styre snarled angrily.

“But he stole your DNA from the Hall of Fallen Heroes. Heroes… not outcasts. You and Linx may have been defeated, but when you were defeated you died gloriously in battle like good little Sontarans. That’s where Vorn made his mistake… he failed, but he had the misfortune to survive and was forced to live with his shame. He was denied a hero’s death. But misery likes company. He brought you all back to share his shame and made you promises of revenge and glory, but don’t you see? By dying in battle you already attained the ultimate Sontaran glory and all Vorn has done is deny you the one honour that you could rightfully claim as your own. I’m not the one you should be trying to kill… Vorn is the one who has truly wronged you!” the Doctor declared.

“Nice try, Doctor, but I have already waited too long for the pleasure of killing you!” Styre growled. He ran at the Doctor, the blade of his knife thrust forward at a level with the Time Lord’s stomach.

The Doctor side stepped effortlessly and Styre only just managed to stop himself from running face first into the wall. The wall that had a downwards arrow carved into it.

“Right where I wanted you!” the Doctor cried triumphantly.

Styre just had time to turn and look at the Doctor, hatred blazing in his eyes before the ground opened up beneath him and he was sent plummeting onto the razor sharp spikes below.

“Room for one more?” Vastra called.

Suddenly Linx flew past the Doctor, arms and legs flailing and he disappeared into the pit to share Styre’s fate.

Susan ran to her grandfather and flung her arms around his neck.

“What were you thinking, Grandfather?” Susan chastised affectionately. “You could have been killed!”

“All in a day’s work, my dear.” The Doctor smiled. While keeping one arm around his granddaughter the Doctor returned to Vastra her katana before taking out his sonic screwdriver.

“How did you know that the trapdoor was going to be there, Grandfather?” Susan couldn’t help, but wonder.

“Patience, Susan. All is about to be revealed. Let’s see how many of us are still standing.” He activated his sonic screwdriver and almost instantaneously the walls of the labyrinth sank back into the ground from whence they had emerged.

The arena was revealed in all its former glory. The Doctor was heartened to see that all of his friends were still alive and well, even if Strax was being groggily helped to his feet by Squirrel. Unfortunately the same could not be said for the Sontarans and Grendel. Of the sixteen that had started out only Vorn and the two Grendel guarding the entrance remained.

“It’s over Vorn. Why don’t you surrender?” the Doctor offered, though he felt he knew what Vorn’s answer would be.

“You did this!” Vorn spat accusingly. “This arena is all your doing!”

“That’s right. I have a little Exxilon friend named Belal. His people are magnificent builders. Before we came here I paid him a visit and enlisted him and a handful of his people to build this little arena for me… booby traps and all! Did you not think to wonder why it was the only building that existed on this planet? There has never been any intelligent life here. Nothing and no one that could have built this. I had it built and I deliberately made it a gladiatorial style arena because I knew it would appeal to your warrior sensibilities. You set out to trap me using my granddaughter and instead I trapped you. All I had to do was activate the trap with my sonic screwdriver and the rest was up to you and my friends.” The Doctor explained.

“But how did you know that your own allies wouldn’t be caught in the traps?” Vorn wondered.

“The traps were only set to go off when they detected Sontaran or Grendel DNA… of course Strax and Vrakel were shielded from this so that they couldn’t set them off. I thought of everything, Vorn.” The Doctor replied.

“Congratulations, Doctor. You have been a worthy opponent indeed. I shall look forward to the next time we do battle.” Vorn remarked with genuine admiration. Before anyone could react he touched a button on his gauntlet and disappeared.

The two Grendel on the doorway also disappeared.

“Transmat beam!” the Doctor observed. “Looks like we’ll be meeting Vorn again sometime.”

“Who cares?” Squirrel drawled. “You beat him once and if anyone can beat him again it’s you. We got what we came for. Let’s get outta here.”

 

David was just pulling a tray of freshly baked scones out of the oven when he heard the familiar sound of the TARDIS’s arrival. He placed the tray on the kitchen table and ran outside. Dare he hope that his Susan was alive and well? If anyone could get her back it was the Doctor, surely?

The door opened on the police box and the first person to emerge… was Susan! She ran into David’s arms, squeezing him tightly and kissing his face.

“Oh David, I’m so happy to see you’re alright!” she beamed with delight.

“Ow, ow! Careful, Susan!” David chuckled as he held her out before him. “I’m still a bit sore and tender, but I’ll be okay. I’m just glad to have you back. I made scones just like the Doctor said and I’ll put a pot of tea on in a minute.”

He looked to see the Doctor come out of the TARDIS followed by Clara.

“Did I hear you mention, scones? Good lad, David!” the Doctor enthused.

Then Vastra, Jenny, Strax, Squirrel, Maxell, Vrakel and Caitlin all exited the TARDIS.

“Oh dear!” David sighed. “I think I may need to bake a few more scones!”

 

**The End**


End file.
